TV legend Anne Diamond announced yesterday that she has breast cancer and has undergone a double mastectomy.
The 68-year-old fought back tears as she confirmed she is battling the disease in an interview with GB News last night.
Speaking to Dan Wootton on the channel, she recalled how doctors broke the news to her the same day she was awarded an OBE, saying it was “one hell of a journey”.
Anne, who works for GB News, has been off the air for almost six months and is still undergoing “harsh” treatment for her illness, including radiation therapy.
Still, she’ll be back at work on Saturday to host “Breakfast with Stephen Dixon.”
Anne Diamond revealed she is battling cancer in an interview with Dan Wootton on GB News last night
Speaking on her show Dan Wootton Tonight, Anne said it had been a “struggle” and after five months “I’m still not at the end of the journey but I’ve been through enough to get back to work”.
The morning television legend, who rose to fame as a TV show host from 1983 to 1990 and was a regular on talk shows The Wright Stuff and Jeremy Vine, was diagnosed the same day she was told they were developing an OBE would.
Anne said: “It was a wonderful moment.” [being told about the OBE] and this was [at] 9.30 a.m.
“But since I’d already seen my GP, I knew I had to go for breast cancer screening later in the morning.” I figured I’d just get a mammogram and do some tests and I’d be free in an hour.
“I spent all morning at my local hospital, where everything was done, biopsies, X-rays, CT scans, a couple of mammograms, everything, and by lunchtime I was still there.”
“And a pretty lady came up with a lanyard around her neck that said MacMillan Cancer Care and I knew then it was serious.”
The mother-of-five revealed she is still undergoing “harsh” treatment after taking months off work to focus on her battle with cancer.
She added, “I don’t have any advice for people because I’m still busy with it.” But I’m doing well enough to return to work. I had all the work, the full mastectomy.
“God, this is the first time I’m talking about this, so it’s quite difficult, but I’m getting the hang of it.” The first surgery I had took nine hours.
“I don’t remember. I’ve been so back and forth but nine hours of disassembly and reassembly took a lot of time and later I had surgery which also removed the lymph nodes just to make sure they could trace the path in case… The cancer got there at all spread to the rest of the body. Luckily I don’t think that was the case.
“I had a lot of radiation therapy, which was also very difficult for me.
“So it’s been a journey, but I’m by no means claiming that I’m exceptional, because I’m fully aware that a quarter of the women in this country are going through what I’ve just gone through and what I haven’t gone through.” Any to give advice. I only have empathy.’
Anne, pictured with her former husband Mike Hollingsworth, has taken several months off to battle the disease
The 68-year-old, who was pictured on a TV show alongside Nick Owen in 1985, received her diagnosis the same day she was told she would be given extra-corporeal surgery (OCE).
The TV presenter pictured operating a VCR in 1984 rose to fame as a TV presenter in the 1980s
Anne was made an OBE in the 2023 New Year Honors for her services to public health and charity, specifically her campaign to raise awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
After her son Sebastian died of complications from cot death in 1991, she became involved in awareness raising and led the Back to Sleep campaign, which urged parents to ensure their babies are on their backs and not their stomachs sleep.
This has significantly reduced the number of SIDS cases in the UK from 2,000 to just 300 per year.
After receiving the award, she said, “This OBE is quite literally a kudos to everyone who has helped me and whose groundbreaking research my campaign is based on.”
“This is also evidence that the media can be a force for good.” According to the government’s own report, 80 percent of parents given life-saving advice got it from TV ads.
“But most of all it’s about Sebastian, who we still miss, and all the lives tragically lost.”
The mother of five with her then-husband Mike Hollingsworth and their son Jake in 1993
Anne, pictured with her son Sebastian in 1991, became involved in cot death education after Sebastian died of cot death
The TV presenter began her career at BBC West in Bristol before teaming up with Nick Owen to present Central News in 1982.
A year later, she joined TV-am to replace Anna Ford and Angela Rippon.
After eight years on the show, where she hosted the original program Good Morning Britain, she switched to work at TV Weekly before returning to Owen in 1992 to co-host the BBC show Good Morning with Anne and Nick to moderate.
Since the turn of the millennium, Anne has been a regular guest on shows such as The Wright Stuff and Jeremy Vine – where she has also acted as a stand-in host – as well as Loose Women.
The TV personality joined GB News last year to host the channel’s weekend breakfast show with Stephen Dixon and will return in the role from this Saturday.